1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a locking device for firearms for enabling releasable locking by blocking or interrupting the triggering mechanism of a firearm, wherein the locking device features a locking unit arranged on the firearm, wherein the locking unit comprises at least one locking mechanism, and wherein the locking device further comprises a release element embodied as separate from the firearm.
The invention further concerns a firearm having such a locking device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The object of locking firearms so that they can be used only by the authorized owner has already resulted in various shutoff devices. Most of these blocking devices, such as are described in EP 1 443 295 B1 or DE 100 52 466 C1, are characterized in that, in cases of emergency, the unlocking process takes far too long and once a firearm has been unlocked it will remain permanently unlocked until it is locked again manually. As a result, neither a rapid availability nor the exclusive use by its owner is ensured, since a firearm that is unlocked can easily fall into the wrong hands as a result of carelessness or hand to hand fighting and can therefore also be used against its owner.
To solve this problem, thus far primarily methods have been proposed in which, using radio technology, communication is enabled between a transmitter and a receiver to initiate the activation of the firearm, as is described in the US 2003/0070343 A1, DE 44 46 020 A1 or US 2002/0112390 A1. The disadvantages of these proposals are that, on the one hand, electronic systems that are accident-prone due to the strong concussions need to be installed in a firearm, and it is always necessary to guarantee an adequate supply of power, which occasionally inhibits usability of the firearm, and particularly, that a deliberate deactivation can be implemented by disrupting the identification signal using interfering transmitters, so-called jammers. Based upon these problem areas, users feel they cannot trust these approaches and, as a result, they have not gained acceptance. Fingerprint sensors have not become established for similar reasons.
An older mechanical approach attempts to solve the problem by ensuring that a firearm will remain activated as long as a pin or a key is inserted in it, wherein said pin or key is connected by a cord to the possessor of the firearm and is removed as soon as the firearm is stolen, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,811 A and U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,525 A. However, these approaches are unsuitable for many applications, because anyone who comes close enough to the possessor of the firearm can deactivate the firearm by pulling the cord. Therefore, these proposals also have never gained significance.
Also known from DE 43 00 532 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,011 B1, WO 2011/154858 A1 and AT 412823 B are locking devices for firearms in which a release element directly determines the status of the weapon. Furthermore, from DE 202008013964 U1, a locking mechanism is known, in which a metal block blocks a barrel or a magazine well of a weapon to prevent disassembly.
The use of a key for locking and/or releasing a firearm as described above is also known from DE 43 00 532 A1.